MARLBOROUGH, Mass., Feb. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Block Engineering, a developer of Quantum Cascade Laser-based spectrometers, has been awarded the Silver Medal in the Gases & Instrumentation 2011 Golden Gas Awards. The Golden Gas Award is an international competition sponsored by Gases & Instrumentation Magazine to recognize the leading new gas analysis products of 2010.

Paul Nesdore, Publisher/Editor of Gases & Instrumentation Magazine commented that, "The LaserScan was judged as an excellently designed industrial unit, with many potential uses in the industry for both gases and materials characterization."

"LaserScan™ is a revolutionary portable product that can analyze gases in a cross-duct configuration," said Adam Erlich, VP of Marketing and Business Development of Block Engineering. "We are proud that Gases & InstrumentationMagazine has acknowledged our innovative product."

Block Engineering's new LaserScan spectrometer helped to position Block as a finalist. LaserScan is a widely tunable mid-infrared spectrometer that uses a collimated beam to analyze gases across ducts. LaserScan can also be used to analyze substances on surfaces from a standoff distance of 6 inches to 2 feet.

Petros Kotidis, CEO of Block Engineering, commented, "I am pleased to receive this award and I want to thank the Gases & Instrumentation Magazine for the honor. Our products are finding numerous new and exciting applications in industrial markets, and we are looking forward to becoming the technology of choice in our selected industries."

About Block Engineering:

Founded in 1956, Block Engineering is a leading developer of high performance QCL and FT-IR spectrometers for chemical detection and analysis to military, government, commercial, and industrial customers. Its Mobile Chemical Agent Detector (MCAD) system, in partnership with Northrop Grumman Corporation, and, PORTHOS™, a portable FT-IR spectrometer system, remotely detect chemical threats as far as 3 miles and protect against chemical warfare agents and weapons of mass destruction. Block has applied its extensive knowledge of spectroscopy and chemical detection towards the commercialization of its high performance QCL based spectrometers. In addition, Block is developing a revolutionary MEMS-based, miniaturized spectrometer, the ChemPen™, which is a low cost, FTIR chemical gas detector the size of a fountain pen.

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